Team Stats

Shots (on goal)

Saves

Fouls

Corner Kicks

Offsides

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Two second half
goals propelled seventh-ranked UC Irvine to a Big West Conference
victory over No. 7 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night at Meredith
Field at Harder Stadium.

With the loss, UCSB falls to 6-3-1 overall and to 0-2 in Big
West play. This marks the first time since the 2000 season that the
Gauchos have dropped their first two league games. UC Irvine, which
is the highest ranked opponent UCSB has faced so far this season,
improves to 9-2 overall and 1-1 in the Big West.

After battling through 66 scoreless minutes, the Anteaters were
finally able to break through in the 67th minute. Jimmy
Tuner got the ball on the left side of the field and connected with
Miguel Ibarra, who shot a gorgeous arching shot from 25 yards out
to upper right corner of the Gaucho goal.

UCI then added insult to injury in the 80th minute
when Marco Franco sent a cross from the right side of the field.
Lester Hayes III, who was waiting near the right post, headed the
ball to the left side of the goal to stretch the Anteater lead to
2-0.

UCSB and UCI were evenly matched throughout the first half. Sam
Garza and Dom Sarle
each got a pair of low shots off in the first 15 minutes, but
Anteater goalkeeper Andrew Fontein came up with the save both
times.

In the 27th minute, Ibarra had a shot on-frame from
the left side, but UCSB goalkeeper Andre Grandt blocked it.
Jonathan Rivas headed the ball back towards the goal following the
deflection, but Grandt was there to make the stop.

With 10 minutes to go in the half, James
Kiffe fed a beautiful cross into the box and Tim
Pontius got his head on it, but his shot went just wide of the
right post and the teams went into the lockerrooms amidst a 0-0
deadlock.

Both squads came out of halftime rearing to go. In the
46th minute, Christopher Santana got the ball on a
breakaway and fed it to Christian Hernandez, who was wide open on
his left side. Hernandez shot the ball from point-blank range, but
it went high.

Just a minute later, UCSB saw possibly its best chance to score
when Michael
Nonni took a point-blank shot of his own that was stopped by
Fontein.

Less than a minute prior to the Anteaters' first goal, David
Opoku sent a beautiful pass over the top of Dom Sarle, who was
able to beat out his defender and send a shot towards the Irvine
goal from inside the box. Fontein was able to get a hand on it
though, and tipped it out of the field of play. The shot was the
Gauchos' last on-frame during the game.

UCSB led the shot count by a narrow 12-11 margin with five
coming on-goal. Garza and Ibarra led all players with three shots
and two on-frame. Fontein ended the game with five saves while
Grandt had two.

With the win, the Anteaters ended the Gauchos' home unbeaten
streak at 16 matches. UCSB's last loss at Harder Stadium was on
Sept. 10, 2010 against Creighton.

The Gauchos will look to bounce back against defending NCAA
Champion Akron on Wednesday in a FOX Soccer Channel televised game
at 7 p.m. at Meredith Field at Harder Stadium. To purchase tickets,
visit the Ticket Office in the Intercollegiate Athletics Building
on campus, call 805-893-UCSB or by clicking here.

UCSB Athletics would like to thank Santa Barbara Airbus for
serving as Saturday night's game sponsor.